


This is What Happens When Reality Snaps Back Into Place

by bug_from_space



Series: Suspended Reality [2]
Category: Jurassic Park - All Media Types, Jurassic World Trilogy (Movies)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Five Stages of Grief, Grief/Mourning, Moving On, Owen adopts Maisie, Owen and Claire are friends, Past Character Death, Time Skips, anyone who says Claire Dearing is straight can fight me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-04
Updated: 2018-11-04
Packaged: 2019-08-17 08:16:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16512629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bug_from_space/pseuds/bug_from_space
Summary: The year after everything falls apart, and Claire Dearing repairs her life.





	This is What Happens When Reality Snaps Back Into Place

**Author's Note:**

> So it's not really vital to read part one, but the general gist of it is that Claire and Zara were together when Zara died, and then she came back as a ghost, they were happy for two years, then Zara passes on fully right after the events of Jurassic World 2.

Day 1  
Denial is a strong feeling. Claire thinks, locking her door behind her. She knows that Zara is gone, had been for years before, but it had been easy to forget with her right there. There had been days in the past when Zara hadn’t appeared, but it had been easier to lie to herself and say that she had simply gone out, not that she had vanished. She had a job to do, mourning for her lover could wait.

Day 3  
Waking up alone is strange. No Zara, no tea, no outfits picked out already, nothing but the silence. “Zara, what do you think…”,and “Are you actually interested in finishing this show?”, and “Good morning,”, habitual words spoken into empty space for someone no longer there. Leaning back against her headboard, Claire sighed, waking up was a responsibility, and denial was getting harder to accept. One more day then, one more day to pretend she could wake up and Zara would still be there.

Day 5  
Collapsing on her couch, Claire shifted, pressing the palms of her hands against her eyes. She had managed to blow up at Owen today, an impressive feat considering they saw so little of each other in the last few weeks. He was fighting to get guardianship over Maisie, and she was working on getting the DPG to work on protecting the dinosaurs that had escaped. It had been easier to convince people to save them when there wasn’t a dinosaur in eating distance. It was moments like this when she needed Zara around.

Day 40  
“Franklin, can you get the reports for Zia?” Claire called as she set a coffee cup on his desk, walking away to talk to someone else. “Claire!” Another voice called, pushing a phone into her hand, “Senator Angelica Rosier. One of the primary senators in favour of helping the dinosaurs. Erin’s talking to Senator Madison.” Claire nodded, holding the phone up to her ear. “Senator Rosier, thank you for calling…”

Day 63  
“No! You’re kidding.” Claire said, muffling her laughter into her hand. One hand reaching out to grab a cookie from the plate in front of them. Zia and Franklin had come over to discuss a new angle for the DPG to take, before getting distracted. “I’m not! I swear, my roommate really did have to be rushed to the ER because of a baking incident caused by a spoon.” Zia defended. The conversation had taken a turn from the political to old memories from their younger years. 

“Okay, I think I can top that,” Franklin started, “When I was in my third year, the dorm three down from us got our entire building in trouble by starting an illegal food trade.” Zia burst out laughing.  
“Why your entire building?” She asked, curiously, taking a drink from the soda on her left.  
“Because enough people got into it. I avoided the punishment because it started during spring break, and I had went home.” He answered. “What about you Claire? Any funny university memories?”

Day 70  
A new apartment. Finally. The lease on her last one had expired and she had moved to a new building on a new street, closer to the DPG office (away from the ghosts of Zara). Setting the last of her bags down, Claire smiled tiredly. Behind her she could hear Zia and Franklin bickering as they came up the stairs, and even further behind them, Maisie and Owen with the last of the boxes.

Day 100  
There were some days, even now, that Claire could almost swear she can see Zara, or when she would notice something that reminded her of the Brit. The continue watching question taunting her with the next episode of the show they had been watching together. But it hurt a little less now though, it wasn’t as all consuming as it had been.

Day 116  
“Aunt Claire!” Claire turned at the call, eyes lighting up as she saw Owen and Maisie arriving through the elevator. Setting down her coffee cup, Claire smiled leaning down to give Maisie a hug. “Good afternoon, Maisie!” Claire looked up at Zia, gesturing slightly at the still open computer, smiling gratefully as Zia stood up to save and shutdown the computer. “You ready to get out of here? Maisie’s been so excited for tonight.” Owen asked as he approached.

Day 132  
Claire sat down, hands massaging her temples. The day had been long, all running back and forth from the government to the office. And now she was back at the office, alone except for Zia. “Long day?” In front of her, Claire could smell a fresh cup of coffee.  
“To be expected.” Claire answered, taking the steaming beverage. “The next person that asks me how are we expected to feed the dinosaurs can be fed to them for all I care,” she added. Zia laughed at the comment. Why she stayed late Claire couldn’t figure out.  
“You’re done now at least, no dinosaurs to feed ignorant senators to anyways.”

Day 150  
The London airport was busy, bustling people rushing from one place to the next, as Claire stepped off the plane. Bag held securely in hand as she went through the motions to get through security. She had never been in London much before, and even now she was here for a handful of days, she had been called to present on the status of dinosaurs to the British government. A responsibility she knew was going to happen eventually, but after the flight all she wanted to do was get her hotel and sleep.

Day 154  
Conference done, Claire knew that this was going to be where she eventually went. It was inevitable. She hadn’t come after Zara had died (hadn’t needed to, she wasn’t mourning her afterall. But now, now she needed that little bit of closure.) Sitting down in front of the grave, she read the inscription ‘Zara Young, 1987-2015’. A short life, too short, all compressed into one small line.  
The grave had a few gifts; two photos of her and who Claire could only guess was her brother, she had only ever mentioned him a few times, one of her and her parents, and a copy of Dr. Malcolm’s book. Claire sat down her bouquet of flowers down on the grave, asphodels, violets, and gardenias. It wasn’t much, but it was something. “I’m sorry, Zara,” Claire started, wiping away the tears. “Please forgive me.”

Day 184  
Six months since Zara had gone. Three and a half years since she had died. Eight and a half years since they had met. Nearly a decade. Claire silently thanked her forethought to take this day as one for herself. Rolling over onto her side, Claire closed her eyes, before getting up, and making herself a cup of tea. Leaning against the wall, she observed the passing cars from her window, the world starting to become busier as people started on their way to work, and students made their way to school. Blowing on the hot tea, Claire let herself fall into memories of Zara. 

Older ones from before the destruction of the park. The first failed date Claire had come back from, whn Zara had told her she was worth every man on that island. And older when Zara had first arrived, and Claire remembers seeing her get distracted by the baby dinosaurs, and how she lit up at them. Their first kiss. Sighing Claire turned away from the window. Tomorrow she would face the rest of the world but today was hers.

Day 206  
The adoption process was done. Owen was now, legally, Maisie’s guardian. It had taken seven months, but it was done. Claire sent a smile towards Owen. She was happy for him, certainly once they stopped trying to make anything romantic out of it, it worked better. She walked over to him, glass of sparkling juice held in one hand. “How are you doing?” She asked.

“Better now that I’m done fighting with the government over her.”

Day 215  
Why she had ever listened to Erin’s recommendation to go on a date, Claire couldn’t figure out. It had gone… badly to say the least. He had talked over her the whole night, and made no effort to make himself look presentable at all. Paired with some insulting comments, there had been no doubt that there would be no second date. 

Grabbing a cup of tea Claire remembered the disastrous dates she had went on when on Isla Nublar. Even the best of them had never been good, but then she had started dating Zara, and the bad dates mattered less. Those had been some of the best dates she had been on.

Day 246  
“Come on Claire, you haven’t had a boyfriend in almost all the time I’ve known you,” Erin complained. The younger girl had made it a goal to set Claire up after the failure with Owen had happened. At first, it hadn’t seemed like a big deal, so long as she said no, but eventually the straight refusal had stopped working. “There has to be someone, I mean, I know Jacob didn’t work, but I have a friend you might like.” She continued, as she posted a new article to the webpage.  
“I don’t think it’s going to work Erin,” Claire interjected before Erin could keep talking. “I had a girlfriend. She died.” There was a beat of silence, Erin staring at Claire, shocked. Internally Claire sighed, that was a mistake.  
“You had a girlfriend? What was her name?” Erin started, asked afgter a minute of shocked silence.  
“Zara, her name was Zara…”

Day 247  
“You all know don’t you?” Claire asked, setting down a coffee on the corner of her desk, watching the faces of the other Group members. Franklin looked away, typing something on his computer. Most other following suit to avoid looking her in the eye.  
“Yeah, we know,” Zia said, after a minute of awkward quiet. “I mean, Claire Dearing: a bisexual, how shocking.” Claire let out a relieved sigh at her friends words, this would be okay after all, hopefully.

Day 307  
Another failed date, that had brought the total up to four now. This most recent one had had promise, and then fell flat. Claire let her shoulders drop. Sudden exhaustion sweeping in. Claire sat down on the edge of her bed, shoes kicked off, and falling backwards, content to be home in her own space. Maybe she just wasn’t meant for dating anymore.

Day 339  
“How’d the date go?” Owen asked, leaning back against the bench, one eye on Maisie as she played in the park. This had become a more common occurrence over the last month. Claire would meet up with Owen and Maisie, who would play for a while, and then they would usually go get ice cream.  
“I’ve had better,” Claire admitted. “I’m doubting if it’s even worth it to keep going. Owen laughed at that.  
“I’m sure it’ll go fine, you’ll find someone who’s willing to put up with your crazy itineraries Claire.”

Day 344  
“Claire! We’re going out for drinks tonight, you want to come?” Zia called as she pulled on a sweater.  
“Yeah, I think I will.”

Day 350  
“Hey, Claire,” Zia started, everyone else either gone or on their way out. “Do you want to go to, like the movies or something?” Claire looked up from her screen, the letter for the senate mostly finished.  
“Yeah, that sounds nice. We should do that. That sounds really nice actually.”

Day 365  
It had been a year, and Claire Dearing was still alive. One hand clasping Zia’s, Claire considered all that had changed in the year. Zia arched an eyebrow at Claire’s pensive expression. “I’m not a therapist Claire, you need to tell me what you’re thinking.”  
“About someone I knew once, her name was Zara.”


End file.
